Bcc Enrollment Drops 5.3%

Cutbacks loom in Broward Community College`s future because of dropping enrollment, BCC President Hugh Adams told the board of trustees Tuesday night.

``We`re better at this point than we thought we would be, but not as good as we had hoped,`` Adams said.

Preliminary figures show that BCC, which has consistently grown for 25 years, dropped in enrollment for the second term in a row, Registrar David Gnage said.

As of Tuesday, there were 19,056 students registered for classes, compared with 20,130 the previous year, Gnage said.

That difference, which he said translates into a 5.3 percent decrease, is slightly larger than the drop last semester, which was estimated at 4 percent.

Officials say the drop may require the college to return some funds to the state Department of Education.

In determining how much money to give each public college and university, the state allows a 5 percent enrollment fluctuation up or down. Any greater fluctuation down requires the school to cut back and refund money to the state.

At BCC, the $22 million in state funds received this year amounts to about about two-thirds of the operating budget.

Clinton Hamilton, the college`s executive vice president, said a refund to the state probably would be below $100,000, if required at all.

But Adams instructed Hamilton and other administrators Tuesday to begin looking for ways to cut back. Even if the college is not forced to refund money to the state, the drop in enrollment is bound to affect next year`s programs, Adams said.

``For the first time in the history of this institution, we will be experiencing an enrollment loss and revenue loss,`` Adams said.

Hamilton said he will come up with a plan for monitoring expenses by the end of the week. But Adams said unfilled administrative positions and part-time teachers may have to be sacrificed.

``We`re just going to stop hiring,`` he said. ``That may directly affect the type of programs we can offer.``

In the end, that may make matters worse.

``It`s a self-strangling mechanism, an enrollment-driven formula,`` Adams said. ``If you begin to decline, less money comes. When less money comes, you have to throw programs out. When you throw programs out, the college becomes less attractive to students, and you decrease further.``